Bombs Away!

For years, his family at Thompson's Farms has opened up their pumpkin patch to tourists and locals.

However, things changed when Thompson decided to spice up the farm's annual harvest season.

"I've seen [them] At another place, and I had to have one," said Thompson, "Not only did I have to have one, I had to have two, then I had to have three."

Thompson spent the last few years building pumpkin cannons -- made up of everyday farm equipment scrap.

Thompson built his first cannon with his bare hands; they operate using air pressure.

It was such a success with crowds, he decided to build another, and another.

He now owns two cannons, capable of launching pumpkins up to a mile away, and an apple mortar too.

"That was my hobby; I get up early in the morning at about 4:30 during the summer, and I would work on those things until about 6:30 or 7 o'clock [a.m.]," said Thompson, "Then I would go on with my farm chores, and then come back the next morning and finish doing whatever I was doing."

That hobby has also resulted in a walnut gun made out of PVC pipes and a propane tank.

Thompson says it's a good way to keep people coming back each year to new attractions, and also put his old junk to good use.

"Every year we try to do something different, and we have a surplus amount of walnuts," said Thompson, "So I always try to utilize our farm commodity."

Thompson says he expects several thousand people to come through his farm this month, a trend he hopes will continue to grow much like his collection.

"I wouldn't venture to guess how many come in here, because I don't want to be braggadocious, but it's a lot," said Thompson, "If Naches would just capitalize on what we're doing, they could feed from us."

Thompson says he will open his farm to the public to pick pumpkins and fire off some of his inventions every weekend of this month.